224 CONCLUDING OBSEBVATIONS. 



"We have quoted largely from several authori- 

 ties ; but to whom are we to look for information, 

 if not to those who have enjoyed the opportunity 

 of observing these birds in their native localities, 

 and who, by direct experiments, have tested their 

 power of endurance in a state of imprisonment ? 

 We owe them a debt of gratitude, and respect- 

 fully acknowledge the benefit to the science of 

 this department of Ornithology which has accrued 

 from their labours. 



To Mr. Gould our thanks are due for the full 

 and free use permitted to us of the specimens 

 in his noble Cabinet, without access to which 

 (not as an ordinary observer having no especial 

 purpose), the present addition to the " Natural 

 History of Humming-birds" must have been far 

 more meagre, and less popular, than we hope 

 our readers will consider it to be. 



"We shall only add that we trust in the fa- 

 vourable reception of a little work bearing upon 

 a subject which is now attracting general atten- 

 tion, and which may be regarded as the avant- 

 courier of the grandest monograph of the Tro- 

 chilida which has ever been laid before the 

 scientific public, un ouvrage du luxe> fitted ex- 

 pressly to grace the libraries of the opulent. 



